Gestational Diabetes

2x weekly checks at 32 weeks?

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Dcrocker wrote:

I am currently 29 weeks, and at my appointment last week my doctor told me I would be coming in twice a week, beginning at 32 weeks, to have the placenta health and amniotic fluid levels checked. I assume this is an ultrasound? Is anyone else required to do this--and if so, what is is it like? Hoping it is just an ultrasound!

I am 34 weeks. I have two weekly appointments, one is just an NST (non stress test) where they monitor the babies heartbeat for 20-30 minutes and the second appt is an NST plus an ultra sound to measure the amnionic fluid. I also have growth scans 4 weeks apart (had one at 29 & 33 weeks and next one is 37 weeks).

I go twice a week. One with my regular OB- he does NSTs- and one at the high risk - they do dopplers to look at blood flow from the placenta to the baby and check my fluid levels. They also do growth scans every 3 weeks.

I was just diagnosed with GD, but from my understanding, this is fairly normal for them to keep a close eye on you and the baby.

At 33 weeks I started going in for 2x BPP (biophysical profile) ultrasounds a week, plus one NST. It was supposed to be 1 BPP and 1 NST but the doctor didn't like the way my cord flow was looking so he upped it to 2 BPPs...

This was the term he used! Biophysical profile. Thank you. What does it entail? An ultrasound? He said that they check every 3-4 days because apparently it could change drastically if more time elapses. I am just anxious about how long these appointments will take and how invasive they will be.

Yes it is an ultrasound. Mine took about 15-20 minutes total, but they did the BPP and dopplers for flowrates from placenta / heart / brain which aren't part of a normal BPP.

A normal BPP checks for 4 things... uh... limb movement, body movement, breathing, and diaphragm movement? I think!?!? I actually don't remember but there are 4 things they check. The baby needs to do each thing at least 2x within a set amount of time. I was lucky and ours was quick as baby was always moving and practicing her breathing and swallowing the only thing that took time was getting the flow rates in the brain.

As for things going bad quickly, it honestly depends on why they are concerned. If it's flow (which was why I was being monitored so often) then yes, flow can change quickly and can go from okay to bad fairly quickly.

All the appointments are a pain in the neck! But totally worth it for the peace of mind. They delivered me a week earlier than planned because of the results of my last BPP. I got a call from my doctors office on the way home for the ultrasound telling me to turn around and go back to the hospital because they had decided to deliver right then!!

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